In general, clothes treating apparatuses are home appliances for washing, drying, or in some cases both washing and drying clothes, and include washing machines, dryers, and all-in-one washer/dryers.
Clothes treating apparatuses for drying clothes supply air at a high temperature (e.g. hot air) to the clothes, and may be classified as an exhaust-type clothes treating apparatus or a circulation-type (condensation-type) clothes treating apparatus according to the manner of air flow.
The circulation-type clothes treating apparatus can dehumidify and heat air discharged from a reception unit and then re-supply the air to the reception unit when the air in a reception unit, which holds clothes, is circulated. The exhaust-type clothes treating apparatus can exhaust air discharged from a reception unit to the outside without circulation when heated air is supplied to the reception unit.
In some cases, a clothes treating apparatus for drying clothes may need to remove foreign substances, such as lint, from air discharged from a reception unit.
In the case of a circulation-type clothes treating apparatus, air discharged from a reception unit is dehumidified and heated by a heat exchanger and then the heated air is re-supplied to the reception unit. If foreign substances are not removed from the air discharged from the reception unit, the foreign substances can accumulate in the heat exchanger and lower heat exchange efficiency.
Further, in the case of an exhaust-type clothes treating apparatus, if air in a reception unit is exhausted without filtration, lint or dust included in the exhausted air can be supplied to the home in which the clothes treating apparatus is installed.
Therefore, in a clothes treating apparatus for drying clothes, air discharged from a reception unit is typically filtered.